Officials: Opening Camp Worth The Effort

HEBRON — Hartford Mayor Michael P. Peters looked out Thursday morning on a baseball field swarming with giggling children and said to no one in particular: ``It was worth it.''

The ``it'' was a joint effort by Hartford and Hebron officials to open Camp Hi Hoti, a summer camp for city children run by the nonprofit Hartford Neighborhood Centers. Peters, Hebron town administrators and the United Way of the Capital Area intervened to ensure the camp's opening, which was in doubt because the neighborhood agency was involved in a spending controversy.

``I'm just glad they got it open. That's what's important,'' Peters said as he and Nancy McMillan, Hebron's parks and recreation director, watched 50 campers participate in egg-balancing races and other ``Olympics Week'' events. About 100 children are attending camp this summer.

``I didn't think they could pull it off,'' said McMillan, who has been assisting at the camp.

``I didn't either,'' Peters said. ``A lot of people were telling us, `Don't even bother [with the camp] this year.' But I'm glad we did.''

The six-week summer camp, which ends next week, will cost the troubled charitable agency about $148,000 -- $75,000 for operating expenses and $73,000 for physical renovations.

The camp had languished in recent years and did not open last summer, despite more than $400,000 in endowment money the agency had spent since 1996 on renovations, designs and site surveys. Nearly all of the money was awarded by a former Hartford Neighborhood Centers board member to a single contractor, without competitive bids, formal contracts or other basic checks and balances.

The state attorney general's office is investigating the spending irregularities, including reports that some of the work was incomplete or never done.

The camp is the showpiece of Hartford Neighborhood Centers, which also runs programs in Hartford for children and elderly people.

On Thursday, Peters urged the agency's executive director, Lynn Ford, to accept help from outside groups to improve the camp in the coming months. Hebron officials, contractors and community groups have offered to donate time and manpower to spruce up the sprawling wooded site.

``Now what you need to do is take advantage of all the resources out there,'' Peters said. ``We've got a lot of volunteers who want to help. The carpenters' union said they'll come out and do some work.''

Ford said the agency would accept an offer from the National Guard to dredge a pond at the camp and would work with Hebron on plans for a new swimming pool. An anonymous donor has given $100,000 for a new pool and bathhouse. The money will be released by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving once the neighborhood agency completes a development plan.

Ford said the agency, hoping to generate income, wants to rent out the camp year-round to schools and other groups. She told Peters that the United Way had held up some funding to the agency this summer, and that she was working on reports required to get the money released.

The mayor's visit wasn't all business: He took a turn at the egg race, which had campers balancing an egg on a plastic spoon as they jogged down the field. When he was done, there were cheers and hugs.